Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak yesterday said that the city “is prepared to help finance any one of three downtown sites for a Vikings stadium, each of which would be cheaper than the team's preferred site in Arden Hills.” At the same time, Minneapolis City Council President Barb Johnson said that she “thinks the council will support a casino in the city's Block E entertainment district that could provide financing for the stadium and other city priorities.” But Vikings VP/Public Affairs & Stadium Development Lester Bagley said, "There's a viable plan on the table, and the Vikings are entirely focused on resolving the issue and building this stadium in Arden Hills" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 10/25).
OPPOSING VIEWS: In Chicago, Teddy Greenstein notes supporters of a new athletic complex at Northwestern Univ. “picture a stunning new facility on Lake Michigan with skyline views to dazzle Northwestern recruits and multipurpose indoor and outdoor fields to benefit several NU teams and host student intramural competitions.” But the plan is “drawing some resistance from NU's top decision-makers, though all involved caution it's early in the process.” NU AD Jim Phillips during a Board of Trustees meeting on Sept. 23 “presented the findings of the school's facilities master plan, a study completed by the architectural firm Populous.” Sources said that the trustees, in “their initial response, expressed a ‘strong preference’ to substantially upgrade NU's facilities without building new ones on its lakefront campus” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/25).
IN SUPPORT: An EDMONTON JOURNAL editorial states the “great arena debate is coming to a head,” and the votes “seem likely to be cast at Edmonton City Hall on a $450-million new home for the Edmonton Oilers.” The editorial: “In our view, council's answer should be ‘yes.’” What “really needs to be talked about in the run-up to the vote -- for sports agnostics as much as for hockey fans and councillors -- is not so much answers as questions.” Edmonton residents “have to make sure we're zeroed in on the right ones as we draw conclusions we're going to live with for decades after this watershed moment passes.” The proposed arena “offers us a once-in-a-generation chance to seize these benefits for the community without having to find much of the money” (EDMONTON JOURNAL, 10/25).
DEADLINE LOOMING: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman appeared on WFAN-AM radio yesterday and said of the Islanders' Nassau Coliseum lease, which expires in '15: “It’s not tomorrow, and people shouldn’t panic.” He added, “The team has to have a new building and it has to be concrete plans on the horizon that’s going to get it done. Otherwise, we’re going to have a problem” (NEWSDAY, 10/25).
